Rehabilitation Robotics Newsletter

Project Showcase
Spring/Summer 1995

Machine Automation Helps--Rehabilitation Technologies at VTT

Virpi J. Santti
VTT Machine Automation
Finland

VTT is the Technical Research Centre of Finland. Research at VTT Machine
Automation is targeted not only to applications in machine automation, e.g.,
heavy work machines in forestry, but also to mobile robotics. The approach
is interdisciplinary, and multi-technical design services to industry are
offered. This article describes two projects on rehabilitation.

In our project "Robotics helps disabled to work" (contact person
Ari Virtanen), the pilot target was a 46 year old software developer with
tetraplegia. He has some mobility left in his hands but when he works at
home, he mainly uses a mouth stick for operating the computer. He works
laying in a bed and hence the area he can reach is very limited; only a
keyboard or a book in front of him can be reached at a time. Without the
robot workstation, he requires a personal assistant to handle manuals and
diskettes used in his work.

The installed robot workstation consists of a small industrial robot, Scorbot
ER V with five degrees of freedom. Scorbot's working area was expanded with
a linear axle. Some modifications were also needed in the gripper. This
robot now takes care of handling diskettes and brings manuals on request.

One of the main design principles was safety. The robot was placed so that
it could not come to close to the user and cause him any injuries. Special
attention was also paid to maintaining the working place as a home, e.g.,
one had to see over the equipment (the maximum height of the equipment being
60 cm).

The system was installed in June, 1992 and the user is satisfied with its
operation. It gives him more freedom and independence in his work. The reliability
of the system has been quite good.

The other project is more general (contact person Olavi Karasti) since it
is not built to serve one person only, but any wheelchair. The idea of the
project is to develop a product module that helps in controlling the movement
of a wheelchair. The implementation is based on a behavior-based concept
and environment perception with ultrasonics.

Before anything is installed to a real wheelchair, the algorithm is tested
on a JC-3 simulator. The simulator input is the environment (mostly walls),
the user behaviouring algorithm and the wheelchair model. The wheelchair
model also consists of ultrasonic sensors, which are simulated. During the
simulation, the movement of the wheelchair is seen picture by picture.

For the real world test phase, we have a self-made mobile platform which
has been used for other projects as well. This mobile robot has two driving
wheels, one on each side, and two caster wheels (one in the front and one
in the back). In addition to the fixed ultrasonic sensors which we use in
this project, there are also other ultrasonic sensors which can be rotated
with a stepper motor (scanning sensors) and US-sensors which can see a whole
level on one measure (omnidirectional sensors). The behavior-based concept
has successfully been tested with the vehicle.

In the final implementation, our module will be connected to M3S (a general-purpose
Multiple Master Multiple Slave intelligent interface for the rehabilitation
environment) in a way that it will capture the joystick signals and, depending
on the selected driving mode, send the modified commands to the motors or
guide the user with some interface media.

This project is a part of the project FOCUS (Focus On the Central position
of Users in the integrated Systems), which in turn belongs to the TIDE program
(Technology Initiative for Disabled and Elderly people) of the European
Commission. FOCUS will be running until the end of 1995.
For further information, please contact:

The Project Showcase is a regular feature of the newsletter in which
a selected project or program is spotlighted. If you are interested in having
your project showcased, contact Tariq
Rahman or Julia Mercier at
ASEL.